Wilfrid Wood’s Engrossing, Hilarious Sculptures

Wilfrid Wood, the East London-based sculptor, crafts absorbing, occasionally hilarious faces and figures from paper mache, plasticine, and polymer clay. Whether it’s Mark Zuckerberg, 2016 Olympians, or less public figures, there’s both humanity and vulnerability in Wood’s work. Since the end of the satirical television show “Spitting Image,” on which Wood worked to help craft the heads in the puppet program, the artist has worked as a freelance sculptor.

Even though much of his work can focus on the heads of individuals, Wood’s pieces transcend straight caricature, instead becoming images that deserve repeat viewings and pondering. In a recent interview with Zetteler, the artist talked about concepts with which his work is often associated: “The problem with satire and caricature is that it can be one-dimensional. Art needs to work on several levels at once. It’s the same with humour in art – it’s dangerous because real art needs to be more than a one-liner.”
Even with canines, which consistently appear in his work, the artist has a knack of crafting specific personalities and emotions. In the same interview, a journalist asked why dogs often come up for him. His answer? “Dogs come second only to humans in their variety of characters so make ideal subjects.”